“A World Without Email” by Cal Newport - a Market Force book review (part I)
Josh admits that he spends more time on email than any other task, including selling.
Josh is a territory manager for a large, national account distributor. Most of his emails are asynchronous which means there’s usually a gap between when an email is sent and ultimately read.
His face-to-face meetings or phone calls that once defined synchronous meetings are now spread out into a shattered rhythm of quick checks of inboxes throughout his day.
To add to his “asynchronous” emails, his end-user customers and peers are now texting him with business communication.
What Josh is experiencing is what most of us are experiencing: our organizations depend on the “hive mind”. Josh - and us - can not ignore our inboxes or Slack channels or business text messages for long without slowing down our entire operations.
Definition: The hive mind is a workflow centered around ongoing conversation fueled by unstructured and unscheduled messages delivered through digital communication tools like email and instant messenger services.
Before I write further, let’s address your big question: “Can I really get rid of email?”. No, and the author isn’t insisting on it. What he is insisting on is a different methodology of work that automatically reduces digital messaging.
And the reason he insists on a different way to work is because our work in increasingly cognitive. The better we understand how our brains work, the sooner we understand its limitation. Only then can we implement strategies to deal with the reality that is our brain.
The result of handling all the emails and instant messages is this: we don’t have the brain power remaining to perform substantive work, the kind of work that makes a positive difference in our company.
An example you can all relate to.
You receive an email asking you to quote an industrial flashlight.
The sender forgot to clarify what color, how many flashlights, what type of batteries, etc.
You then email back asking those questions.
She replies with part of the answer but not the entire answer.
You write back with another email asking for clarification.
She responds with an answer but you realize that the flashlight she’s inquiring about is not quite the right solution.
The sender sends another email requesting a logo on the flashlight.
And so it goes for at least eight emails sent back and forth.
What’s a simple solution to this email thread? Pick up the phone and ask the sender for clarification. Yes, it takes a little more work and time up front but look at what this email thread cost you in terms of brain power and multi-tasking.
A better solution will be addressed in next month’s column.
Do we need a better way to schedule meetings?
Scenario: you need to schedule a meeting with two or more people so you email a request to your invitees. One responds that she’s available on a Monday but another responder says he’s not available. After a day of back-and-forth messages totaling 12 emails, you all agree on a date to meet.
Is there a better solution to scheduling? Yes, but it may not be practical for everyone. We’ll discuss the solution in part II of our review.
How is the book laid out?
There are two parts to Mr. Newport’s book. The first portion creates a winning case against email: email reduces productivity, email makes us miserable, and email has a mind of its own.
The second portion presents principles for a world without email.
Believe us, this book is not anti-tech. Far from it, it offers alternative tech solutions and some non-tech solutions.
Next month, we’ll review part II of the book and offer some of our own ideas to help you break the “hive mind” mentality.
